Friday, 8 June - Warsaw - 12:00 EST Poland : Greece Referee: Carlos VELASCO CARBALLO (ESP) Assistant referees: Roberto Alonso Fernández (ESP), Juan Carlos Yuste Jiménez (ESP) Additional assistant referees: David Fernández Borbalán (ESP), Carlos Clos Gómez (ESP) Fourth official: Gianluca Rocchi (ITA) Reserve official: Renato Faverani (ITA) UEFA Delegate: Geir Thorsteinsson (ISL) UEFA Referee observer: Pierluigi Collina (ITA) Velasco Carballo has his full Spanish quintet assisting him. The fourth official is Rocchi of Italy. This thread is for all pre-, play-by-play, and post-match discussion of the referee and other officials on the match. Only news and analysis or other facts/information related to the referees and the officiating should be posted here. This is not a team or rivalry thread and will be heavily moderated to ensure it remains that way. Please read the stickied thread at the top of this forum if you have further questions. Thank you.
Inside an hour to kickoff, so bumping this thread to the top. Velasco Carballo's big club international matches over the past year: 2012 UCL - Group Stage, Benfica v. Basel; Group Stage, Arsenal v. Olympiacos; Group Stage, Porto v. Zenit; Round of 16, Napoli v. Chelsea; Quarterfinal, Bayern v. Marseille 2012 Europa League - Round of 16, Sporting v. Man City 2011 Europa League: Final, Porto v. Braga And EURO 2012 qualifying: Estonia v. Italy Hungary v. Netherlands Croatia v. Israel
I'm fascinated by the positioning of the AAR on that cross. He's at the edge of the 18 when the ball is wide and SPRINTS to inside the 6 while it's in the air. And the CR has gotten in front of the Greeks 3 times when going down the left. Gotta say I'm impressed, but it looks a bit strange???
I kind of like his very deliberate style. He waits a beat or two before he blows his whistle on pretty much every foul.
He did a nice job a moment ago, making Greece retake their direct kick from the right side, just outside the box. Not sure what he saw that he didn't like (or whether Greece just took the kick too quickly), but he was nice and calm and got the kick retaken cleanly and quickly.
Either they've been instructed to do so, or certain AARs who still want to climb the ladder in UEFA seem over-eager to show off their fitness and attentiveness to the powers that be. I've noticed it throughout the year on some matches. A lot of the movements seem unnecessary. So either they are trying to individually justify their worth, or UEFA has told them to over-sell their movements--perhaps in a larger attempt to justify their worth collectively.
I do like his management of the players thus far. Very "un-Spanish," which has probably contributed to his quick rise in the international ranks. He's also incredibly fit; that goes without saying at this level, but it's something I particularly notice with him.
AARs don't have a flag, just a beeper stick. It's highly possible he helped call the flag but he'd be using his communications device.
Now we got sumtin' to talk about - Yellow / Red - 2CT - seems harsh to me - from my first live view - it looked to me that the Polish player was already going down and had slipped. Not sure about yellow for this.
Yeah, that was no 2nd yellow. I know people will probably say it wasn't even a foul, but I'm actually OK with foul, no card.
Uh oh indeed. I wouldn't have given a foul, let alone a card (particularly a second yellow). And then deciding not to give the handling call on Poland in the box a few minutes later.
Agreed. I actually think the first yellow was justified, with the elbow up, despite what the announcers had to say. The second one, yes he puts his arm out, but the Polish player had already slipped. Could he regained his balance and gone on? Maybe. But I think the benefit of the doubt goes to the defender here. It's a really harsh call. That said, if it is a foul... DOGSO might have to be considered regardless?
A Spaniard, Angel Maria Villar, is the boss of the referees, the UEFA referee committee, he was the referee boss at the World Cup too. He assigns one of the worst Spanish referees for the opening game and that one gives a soft red card in favor of the home country. Strange string of events.
Awful, awful decision that changes a game entirely. I'll point to this game every time an MLS fan bitches that all would be cured if we just had the mythical perfect Euro referee.
Think that's actually the right decision. But you're right that it compounds problems for him going forward.
In slo-mo that is clearly not a foul. Having said that, I can easily see why the ref called a foul, and once he called a foul, I don't see how you can not give a yellow as the "foul" essentially prevented a breakaway....
I have no strong rooting interest, but this is a travesty. The 2nd yellow card was not even a foul. The first yellow a foul and nothing more. This guy is ruining the game.